Former Guantanamo prisoners held by home governments after latest transfers

[JURIST] Sixteen Saudis and a Bangladeshi man [DOD press releases] repatriated from Guantanamo Bay earlier this week to their home countries are being detained by their governments. Saudi Arabian authorities say they are holding their nationals in order to investigate whether they have ties to terrorist groups [AP report]. Meanwhile Mubarak Hussain Bin Abul Hashem [Wikipedia backgrounder], a Bangladeshi citizen, is being detained for an additional month by his government to investigate possible connections to local or international militant groups. He was supposedly studying at a madrassa in Karachi, Pakistan in 2001 when he was apprehended by American agents and taken to Guantanamo. AP has more.

The US still holds approximately 395 prisoners at Guantanamo. US State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger said in a recent interview published in London's Daily Telegraph that Guantanamo Bay detainees considered an ongoing security threat will remain in custody indefinitely [JURIST report], regardless of whether there is sufficient evidence to try them before a US military commission.

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